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This is the headline that greets you when you land on a web page erected as a memorial to commemorate the decline of Traditional Media. A photograph of a man who seems to be in distress and who’s possibly just lost his job accompanies this headline. If this does not paint a bleak picture, go on to read the 548 headlines that all sing to the same tune as the following:

Bad Times: NYT Says Revenue Fell 13.9% Last Month

– Forbes.com

Men’s monthly magazine Arena to cease printing after 22 years

– Guardian.co.uk

Cosmopolitan UK publisher to cut 100 jobs

– Guardian.co.uk

There’s even a website entitled Newspaper Death Watch that chronicles all the publishing and newspaper houses that close down. All rather morbid wouldn’t you say?

The Deadly Spell

Let’s take a quick look at Traditional Media and how the Internet cast it’s deadly spell.

Back in the old days, we’re talking 500 years ago; Gutenberg revolutionized the printing industry by inventing the printing press. This meant bibles could be produced at a fraction the time it used to. This also meant more copies in a shorter time and the Word of God got further reach in a shorter time. Newspaper houses and Magazine publishers still use a printing press today (well thank you captain obvious).

Much later, shortly after the advent of electricity, the world was blessed with another few media breakthroughs, namely radio then a few years later, television. Marketers and Advertising agencies had it all figured out as they devised Integrated Marketing Campaigns with astronomical budgets. Ah, the good old days. Well, much to the dismay of many of these agencies, this media landscape started to change.

Behold! Enter The WWW

At first a website was seen as a cute way to put your company brochure online and on top of that the disastrous dot bomb era created skepticism that labeled the Internet as a bad media and business channel.

Fortunately, since then the Internet has matured. Now, in countries where broadband has achieved high levels of household penetration, the web has become the consumer medium of choice.

Why? Because people can do research, shop online, watch videos and connect with friends all in the comfort of their own homes. People can choose what media they want to consume, where and when they choose too, especially with mobile connectivity. Marketers can no longer dictate what advertising messages people get subjected too.

Social Media, The New Black

Then there is the phenomenon of Social Media. It changed the media landscape forever. Social Media websites have allowed consumers to connect with friends, family, colleagues and peers in ways that were never imaginable a few decades ago.

Technology has empowered the consumer to become the Prosumer. Prosumers are consumers who produce content such as videos, photos and blogs that can be instantly distributed and shared amongst millions of people via social media platforms. This is also known as user-generated content or UCG.

Here is an interesting bit of trivia about the reach of Traditional Media vs. the Internet and Social Media.

Years it took to reach a market audience of 50 Million:

Radio – 38 Years

TV – 13 Years

The Internet – 4 Years

The iPod – 3 Years

Facebook – 2 Years

So How Does The Internet Affect Traditional Media?

The Internet has decreased the need for Traditional Media because it enabled consumers to join social societies within their neighborhoods, across their countries and internationally. It has empowered them to converse at their leisure, 24/7, with friends.

Considering all that’s been said, the demise of Traditional Media can largely be attributed to the following factors:

Decline in readership: The distribution of free news and information on the web has led to the decline in readership for traditional publications.

Decline in revenues: The decline in readership means advertisers will spend their money elsewhere and this leads to a decline in ad revenue.

Real-time updates: Traditional Media can’t compete with instantly updated user-generated content that’s immediately available for the world to see.

The rise of UGC websites: People have the freedom of unlimited real time commentary on content while Traditional Media is static and is a one-way communication tool.

Online Audio/Video channels: People can choose what they want to watch and listen, when they want to and where without any advertising interrupting their experience.

Simply put. The Internet has revolutionized the way things get done today. It has revolutionized the way we do business, the way we communicate and has broken down the walls of Traditional Media.

A recent example is the decision by Unilever UK to fire Lowe, their Ad agency of 15 years, in favor of crowdsourcing – which means it has thrown the brand creative pitch open to agencies and basically any person who can think of an idea, worldwide. This is done on the Internet of course.

Traditional Media will still be around for a while, but the Internet is getting more and more integrated into our daily lives.

Think about this. You could do without the Mail & Guardian or the MensHealth Mag for quite some time, perhaps live quite happily without it? But you just dare cut that ADSL connection…

The internet has radically changed the face of shopping as we know it. Now the virtual marketplace is becoming every bit as important as the high street. With this new form of shopping coming a new form of marketing which is not necessarily the same as traditional marketing and therefore demands a new approach and also a degree of stepping away from the mindset of traditional marketing such as television and magazine advertising. The positive side of this however, is that the potential of internet marketing is unlimited. It not only moves your business out of the locality in which you are based, but also outside of your national borders. It is creating a global marketplace with access to billions of customers. The internet population of China alone is bigger than the population of the US. Therefore, it is imperative that you make the correct decisions when it comes to online marketing and the proposal of internet marketing services. If you do so there are a number of important benefits to be had.

Cost-Effective

Internet marketing services can be expensive; however, when you take into account the impact they can have the cost-benefit ratio far thats that of traditional marketing techniques. Due to the nature of the internet by choosing the right internet marketing services it is possible to reach a massive target population. A good internet marketing company, although costly, will be able to work out the exact demographic that your business targets and assist you with reaching them.

Specialists

Whilst you are paying for their services it is important to realize that they are specialists in their field and you are not only paying for their services but also their knowledge. It is important that you never assume to know what an online customer wants or how to reach them as you may simply not be correct and then your market will fail to be reached. There are millions of websites out there that have missed the mark and receive few or no visitors.

Strategic

A good internet marketing services provider will also be able to assist you in developing a very strategic marketing plan taking into account the many different elements of internet marketing such as SEO, advertising, and social media marketing. It would be extremely difficult for an internet marketing novice to be able to truly engage with any of these forms of marketing as they have particular nuances.

Increase Sales

Ultimately one of the main benefits of engaging an internet marketing services provider is the fact that they have the experience to help you increase your sales. This is the end game of the online marketplace – driving traffic to your website and converting that traffic to sales. Not only is it important to work out how to get customers to your website it is also important that once there your website is well-built enough to actually convert sales. A company with a good reputation for providing internet marketing services will be able to assist you with all angles of marketing to ensure you get the most for your money. Remember there are already people out there searching for your product; it is just a matter of making your company visible to them.

People who live in the state of Ohio may be in for a surprise when they open their mailbox. In this state the Bureau of Motor Vehicles sends out 280,000 requests a year to see proof of insurance. Once someone receives one of these notices in the mail they only have three weeks to prove they have insurance. Although it’s obviously mandatory to have car insurance, some people forego it because of the price. There are ways to find affordable car insurance and some are not things most people are aware of including:

o Using one insurance company for all your policies including car, home, health and life. Insurance companies give discounts to individuals who purchase more than one type of insurance from them. Ask your health insurance or life insurance agent about a quote for car insurance.

o Buying a car that costs less to insure. Most people never consider the insurance costs that are associated with a particular type of car before they buy it. Call several insurance agents and ask for quotes on a car you are considering buying. You may be surprised to learn exactly how expensive it is, and if you find this out before you finalize the sale, you can save yourself a lot of money.

o Mention that you have a car alarm or consider getting one. A car alarm is a great idea for many reasons including the reduction you are likely to experience in insurance costs. Any effort that you make to keep your car safer is viewed in a good light by the insurance company. You’ll have to be prepared to show proof that the car alarm system is indeed installed.

The most important factor in determining your car insurance rates is likely your driving record. If you have been in more than one accident in the last few years or you have a pile of speeding tickets with your name on them, you are obviously going to have a more difficult time getting an affordable rate. If this is the case, make a resolution to start driving safely now and you’ll see your rates steadily drop.

Scientists have advanced knowledge about the proteins that help control blood sugar, or glucose, during and after exercise, and this knowledge could lead to new drug therapies or exercises more effective for the prevention of Type 2 diabetes and other health problems associated with high levels of blood sugar.

Insulin resistance occurs when the body is not produced by properly stimulating the transport of glucose, a type of sugar inside the cells as an energy source. Too much glucose in the bloodstream can cause a variety of medical problems including Type 2 diabetes, said Gregory Cartee, a professor in the School of Kinesiology and principal investigator of the study. Katsuhiko Funai is the co-author, graduate student and researcher in the School of Kinesiology.

Insulin and muscle contractions are the most important stimuli that increase glucose transport into the interior of muscle cells. The cells can then use glucose for energy, said Cartee. But scientists do not know exactly how this works.

The group reacted Cartee watched two different proteins that were considered important in stimulating the transport of glucose by two different enzymes, linked also with the transport of glucose. The goal of this study was to understand the contribution of the two proteins, called AS160 and TBC1D1 in skeletal muscle stimulated by insulin.

“Trying to rule out or determine what proteins are important in the exercise,” said Cartee.

The results indicate that the protein TBC1D1 was the most important for the transport of glucose stimulated by exercise and suggested that the second protein, AS160, may be less important for this effect of exercise. Give attention to the protein works best, in this case the TBC1D1, scientists can develop methods for making proteins that work best for people with insulin resistance, Cartee said.

Insulin resistance is a major health problem affecting millions of people, he said.

“Almost all people with diabetes have Type 2 muscle resistance to insulin,” said Cartee. “This does not cause diabetes by itself, but it is an essential component that contributes to type 2 diabetes. This affects millions of people. Even people who are not diabetic insulin resistance is linked to numerous health problems. “

In the longer term people who have insulin resistance or whose muscles do not respond normally to insulin are more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes, said Cartee.

“Apparently the muscles have the machinery to respond to exercise even if they do not respond normally to insulin. If we knew how the exercise could develop more effective protocols for exercise, “he said. “In other cases of people who can not exercise, we could design a drug therapy or something else to control insulin.